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1917 AND ALL THAT: THE UNTAUGHT SYLLABUS.
In Their Own Words: A Political History Of The Cold War 1917-1983.
By Brian Mitchell.
Chapters 13-18 of 50.
Chapter 13
THE CAPITALISTS FIND A SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS IN EUROPE:
ADOLF HITLER IS BROUGHT TO POWER.
"It was conspicuous that no government in the capitalist world quivered with
apprehension when this new power (Fascism) arrived. The world's conservatives
hailed it with glee, and there was not a Tory who, as he nodded approval of the
Hitler and Mussolini method of dealing with the "labour problem", did not feel
confident that in the bargain-basement of diplomacy, he could make a deal with
the new anti-Bolshevik champion."
(British historian J.T.Murphy.) (1)
(1)J.T.Murphy "Stalin." John Lane the Bodley Head. London 1945.
To present Adolf Hitler and Nazism as a phenomenon is a distortion and diversion
of history.
Historians who try to present pre-war Germany as under the power of Hitler's
personality are liars. The Nazi party was collapsing till Hitler presented his
programme to leading German industrialists, financed by British and US capital,
on January 26 1932, when money began to flow into the Nazi Party. See for
instance Goebbels' diary of February 8 1932 where he noted that financial
support for the election campaign was guaranteed. What the capitalists knew that
they were financing was a war against communism.
"In four years' time we must have an efficient army. In four years' time
Germany's economy must be ready for war."
(Adolf Hitler, September 1936.) (1)
The pitiful arguments of the falsifiers of history who put the rise of German
Fascism and the cause of World War Two down to the power and personality of
Adolf Hitler are easily refuted by the asking of a few simple questions such as:
Where did Hitler, who was supposed to have been a poor painter, and his
followers get their vast requirements to set up, arm and clothe the Nazi
storm-troopers before they even came to power? Where did they get the fortunes
for their pompous and elaborate electoral campaigns? And where did they get the
colossal finances for the big enough armed forces to start and sustain a massive
world war which was to last six years?
In the years 1933 to 1940 the Wehrmacht's numerical strength grew from 105,000
to 3,755,000. Total military production grew ten-fold between 1933 and 1939.
Could this be done by the "power" of one man's personality?
The causes of the Second World War are not to be found in the personality of
Adolf Hitler or any other individual. Such apologetic theories of history are a
lie and a sinister attempt to put the causes of fascism and war in the realms of
psychology rather than the political-economic forces of world capital.
Fascism is first and foremost against the working classes and their organisation
into any effective political power or resistance which threatens or opposes the
power of capital. And as has been said earlier; people should control capital,
not the other way round. To merely depict or construe fascism as a mental
aberration or psychological phenomenon, or to simplistically reduce it to
racism, is an un-scientific and thoroughly dishonest bourgeois concept. Fascism
is not necessarily racist, for example Salazar's Portugal, and some Latin
American regimes. To allay these other possible distortions it is necessary to
point out that fascism is not a particularly German peculiarity. To make
distortions and suggest that German fascism was a result of the German character
deliberately hides the truth; as well as being thoroughly racist against the
German people.
(1)See:"Recalling the Past For the Sake of the Future - The Causes, Results and
Lessons of World War Two." Novosti. (Also available in London.)
Fascism is certainly not something inherent in human nature or the human brain.
Indeed, this is part of Right Wing ideology in itself. In 1945, after he took a
poison capsule, Himmler's brain was examined for signs of fascism! What did they
hope to find - swastika shaped neurons, or something equally fallacious?
No; 1930s European fascism was not primarily or essentially about racialism, the
psychology of any individual or group, or the power of the swastika. It was the
power of the Deutschmark, the Pound and the Dollar. It was the power of capital
against labour; of capitalism which, if it was to maintain its power in the
world, intended to crush existing Socialism in the form of the Soviet Union.
"It is a battle for annihilation... The war will differ drastically from the war
in the West. In the East, cruelty is a blessing for the future."
"We will have to develop the technique for the extermination of the
population... It is my right to liquidate millions of this inferior race."
(Adolf Hitler, speaking of his Ost (East) and Barbarossa Plans, Dec 1940.)
#IG-Farben profits went up from 48 million Marks in 1932 to 363 million Marks in
1939. In 1929 alone, the Nazis received 6.15 million Marks from the German
Association of Mining Interests. Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail, gave
Princess Hohenloe, a half Jew made "Honourary Aryan" by Goebbels, 5 million
Dollars to assist Hitler's rise to power. (1)
"Pre-war movies had pictured the goose-stepping nazis as the absolute masters of
Germany. Hitler had only to command and the most powerful of the pre-nazi
potentates would snap to obey - or else. Our poking about in the Villa Hugel and
questioning of Alfred Krupp and his works managers erased that impression. Adolf
Hitler and his party had never been allowed quite to forget that they had
depended upon the industrialists to put them in office, and in the future they
could go further with the industrialists' help than without it."
(James Martin, post-war US military administration section leader in Berlin.)
(2)
"1. It is not true that the big German industrialists joined national socialism
at the last moment... They were its enthusiastic promoters from the very
beginning.
2. Seizure of power by the national socialists was only made possible with the
support of the German heavy industries and high finance.
3. Conversion of the German economy to a war economy and to the feverish
armament for the war of aggression was made under direct guidance of the German
industrialists."
(From the US Senate Kilgore Committee, Oct 1945.) (3)
British and American capitalists who financed German fascism, then, at the end
of the war, put the "fascists" on trial:
(1)See:Charles Higham "Trading With the Enemy." Robert Hale. London 1983.
See also:Fyodor Volkov "Secrets of Whitehall and Downing Street." Progress.
Moscow 1986.
(2)See:J.S.Martin "All Honourable Men." Boston. 1950.
See also:Prof. G. Deborin "Thirty Years of Victory" Progress Publishers Moscow
1975.
(3)See:The Grey Book - Expansionist Policy and Neo-Nazism in West Germany.
Verlag Zeit im Bild. Dresden.
"If you want to put on trial the industrialists who helped Germany arm itself
you must put on trial your own industrialists."
(President of the Reichsbank Hjalmar Schacht, German capitalist imprisoned at
Nuremberg for war crimes.)
A brief description of the essence of fascism is that it is naked capitalism -
capitalism stripped of its mask of democracy.
Fascism is the capitalist class's reaction to the growing power of the working
class, especially in a political-economic crisis. Capitalism's and fascism's
foremost enemies are not the Jews, nor is it any other religion or race; it is
the communists.
"It will be a war of extermination... Unless we look at it that way, we may
defeat the enemy, but the Communist danger will reappear 30 years hence.
(Adolf Hitler addressing his Generals, March 30 1941.)
The communists are to the fore in opposition to fascism, and the German fascists
had to liquidate all opposition:
"Under the pretext of the political security of the conquered areas in the
occupied as well as in the rear areas of the Wehrmacht the "action groups" were
supposed to ruthlessly liquidate all resistance to national socialism, not only
present resistance but resistance in the past and the future. Entire classes and
groups of people were to be killed, without investigation, compassion or
remorse. The women were to be murdered together with their menfolk, and the
children were to be executed, because otherwise they would grow up to be enemies
of national socialism and might even harbour the wish to avenge the deaths of
their parents."
(From the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials documents.) (1)
This point made, it is necessary to be aware of the distinction between racism
and fascism. Hitler's racism was against the Jews and the Slavic and other
races; but his fascism, like all fascisms, was essentially against the
opposition to capital of the organised working class, the communists. One only
has to examine Zionism and Israeli treatment of the Palestinians and continued
occupation of their land, and the mass murders at Sabra and Shatila, to see that
Jews, just like any other religion or race, are quite capable of making powerful
capitalists or fascist agents of capital, and committing atrocities, and
certainly do not hold the monopoly on human rights in the world.
It was Hitler's destruction of communism and communist or Marxist influence and
the rising discontent and power of the working class that big business invested
in and made Hitler and the Nazis and their organisations powerful, not Hitler's
racism against the Jews.
All over Europe, capitalist governments in crisis turned to fascism. Their
actions were fundamentally against the organised power of the working class in
their trade unions and communist parties, even the social democrats, and the
Popular Front of workers' organisations and peoples of Europe, which, if they
had not succumbed to splits engineered by their leaders and infiltrators and
agents of their governments, could collectively have prevented the drive to
fascism and war.
(1)See:The Brown Book. War and Nazi Criminals in West Germany. Verlag Zeit im
Bild. Dresden.
The weakness of the working class organisations, whose leaders allowed
themselves be taken along by their governments' capitalist ideologies and to be
thus split and divided; and the pandering to Hitler's fascism by their
caoitalist governments, ensured the steady slide into disorganisation, weakness
and capitulation.
In Germany it was the split between the communists and the socialists, who
refused to join the communists in a popular front, that allowed Hitler to come
to power. The combined votes of the German socialists and communists would have
been more than those of Hitler's National Socialists; but the 'socialists' were
so anti-Soviet and anti-communist they refused to cooperate and went their own
sectarian way. They didn't learn working class unity in time; Hitler crushed
them just the same.
In France the majority hated fascism. But their rulers led them step by step
into a position of subjugation by fascism. In a secret agreement with Mussolini,
and with Britain's complicity, French Premier Laval helped Mussolini to gain
Abyssinia. Laval helped build up the very forces which threatened France in the
South East. Flandin allowed Hitler to militarise the Rhineland and threaten
France in the East. At Munich Premier Daladier broke agreements with France's
allies by agreeing to give Czech territories to Hitler, complete with the
armaments of forty Czech divisions and the Scoda arms factories whos tanks were
used decisively in Hitler's invasion of France. Daladier and Bonnet broke the
Franco-Soviet pact which bound the Soviet Union to come to the assistance of
France if France was attacked.
The French communists were almost alone in fighting against all of these steps
toward war and fascism. But when the war began Bonnet was made Minister of
Justice and promptly imprisoned his communist opponents.
Economic crisis in Europe had polarised capitalist and worker. The working class
became more organised, more demanding, more anti-capitalist, and the capitalists
were becoming more afraid.
Capitalists have various methods for dealing with this kind of situation; each
one increasing in severity according to their requirements as befitting the
depth of the crisis.
One way is to try to pander to the workers' interests by means which divert them
from their cause, such as by trying to hi-jack the labour movement or a section
of it. Fascist parties always try to do this, often by posing as anti-capitalist
or even 'socialist', often linking it to a sense of 'nationalism', as the term
was used by the Nazis' NSDAP _ the German initials of the 'National Socialist
German Workers' Party'. Nazi leader Gregor Strasser in 1932 said that:
"The important part of the present development is the anti-capitalist sentiment
that is permeating our people, that has now laid hold of something like 95 per
cent of our people, consciously or unconsciously... It is the protest of the
people against a degenerate economic system; and it demands from the State that,
in order to secure its own right to live, it shall break with the demons Gold,
World Economy, Materialism, and with the habit of thinking in export statistics
and the bank rate, and shall be capable of restoring honest payment for honest
labour."
(Nazi leader Gregor Strasser, May 1932.)
This could sound very appealing to a dissatisfied working population in a deep
crisis. But the Strasserites failed to achieve much among the German working
masses although it did attract certain sections in large numbers.
The centre-right of the British labour press equally confused the workers.
Trying to confuse people about the nature of fascism and the nature of socialism
and trying to elicit popularity for the Nazis the 'Labour' Daily Herald wrote:
"HITLER'S MAY DAY.
The 'National Socialists' - it is essential to remember - call themselves
'Socialists' as well as 'National.' Their 'Socialism' is not the Socialism of
the Labour Party, or that of any recognised Socialist Party in other countries.
But in many ways it is a creed that is anathema to the big landlords, the big
industrialists, and the big financiers. And the Nazi leaders are bound to go
forward with the 'Socialist' side of their programme."
(Daily Herald, May 1933.)
But as in other countries and other times, it is the trade unions and the
communists who are better ideologically equipped and organised to appeal to the
masses in such a situation.
The Communist Daily Worker countered:
"Put into plain language, what we have here is a deliberate friendly handshake
extended to German Fascism, which is lyingly depicted as being opposed sharply
to the interests of the capitalist class in Germany, and out for the
establishment of Socialism... It also expresses a swinging into line on their
part with British imperialism in its attitude of striving to utilise the support
of Hitler for anti-Soviet intervention purposes."
(Daily Worker, May 1933.)
In Germany, capital needed to crush the organised resistance of the working
classes, and on January 30 1933, on a wave of anti-Soviet, anti-Communist, and
anti-trade union propaganda and Jew baiting, Adolf Hitler came to power.
"Armed forces, diplomacy, civil service, industries, commerce, education,
religion, labour are all being forced into the same channel and being
subservient to the same aim to make Germany... by far the strongest power in
Europe."
(British Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Robert
Vansittart, Feb 3 1936.) (1)
In no way can the Nazi holocaust against the Jews be minimised. But it must be
noted that the Nazis first took action against communists, trade unionists, and
the working classes and their organisations. Not to berate or belittle,
understate or in any way underemphasise the Nazi holocaust against the Jews,
which although it had enormous social, moral and humanitarian significance, it
had no economic or military political significance as far as the politics of the
financial backing of the Nazis were concerned. Indeed, the big Jewish
capitalists who financed Hitler were not touched by Hitler. Some of them were as
criminal as any Nazi.
If Hitler and the Nazis were merely racists and against the Jews there would not
have been much point in big business, among whom were many rich Jewish
capitalists, financing them. It was not Hitler's racism that they were
interested in, since it would not solve any problems for them. Big business's
problems were not the Jews _ but the organised power of the working class. And
Hitler had promised to crush it. This is what big business was interested in.
This is what they knew they were financing.
"In their systematic destruction of all opposing groups, Hitler and Mussolini
had the communists first on their list. Among the early opponents of fascism,
the communists were in the forefront."
(From US Army bulletin "Army Talk." March 1945.)
(1)Public Record Office: Cabinet, 24/260, p3.
"National Socialism, with its philosophy based on the racial principle, has
recognised Bolshevism in the Jewish-Marxist doctrine as its principle adversary,
which tries to push forward the world revolution in the military or ideological
sphere, having Russia as its base, and which must be regarded as the fiercest
enemy of all German and European culture."
(Nazi Professor H. Ludat, 1939.)
Just like the US and Britain today (note the recent US film "Amerika"), the
Nazis had films made on the theme of anything left-wing or 'Red' as trouble
makers and plotters against freedom and democracy.
"There is the bang of shots, and unarmed officers and helpless women collapse
when the machine gun... lets fly in a frienzied rage. Quick as lightning the
murderous terror of the Red revolt races across town... brutally and
unrestrainedly slaughtering everybody who somehow appears to be suspect... A
film whose exciting scenes fascinate to the very last metre, a film well suited
to open the eyes of a lot of disbelievers at home and abroad on the world-wide
Bolshevist plague."
(Hitler's film writer Felix von Eckardt, Potsdamer Tageszeitung 16 Jan 1937.)
After the Second World War Eckardt became Plenipotentiary of the West German
government in Berlin and was responsible for the German Christian Democratic
Union party.
#Of the five million exterminated at Auschwitz, two million were Soviets, and
the first gas experiments were carried out on 900 Soviet people. The Nazi
genocide of the Jews even began in the Soviet Union. Then Poland. Four million
Russian prisoners of war were murdered. (1)
The IG-Farben company, which created IG-Auschwitz, had rich Jewish shareholders
and supported Hitler. (2)
No. The financial roots of Hitler's fascism was not essentially or even
primarily against Jews. It was against the organised power of the working class.
"The roots of the Hitlerite movement is the struggle against socialism, in other
words against Marxism."
(Karl Friederick von Siemens, in a lecture to General Electric bosses, Oct 27
1931.) (3)
"It is one of the foremost aims of the NSDAP [Hitler's National Socialist German
Workers' Party B.M.] to overcome and destroy the Marxist world outlook, and to
liquidate its chief exponents."
(Hitler's chief Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg.)
"The vision that stands before my eyes was of far higher value to me from the
very beginning. I wished to be the destroyer of Marxism. I will achieve this
task."
(Adolf Hitler, at his trial, 1923.)
(1)Yigal Lossin "Pillar of Fire." Channel 4 TV Oct 19 1986.
Also see book of same name.
(2)Yigal Lossin "Pillar of Fire." Channel 4 TV Oct 19 1986.
Also see book of same name.
(3)See:Denis and Cynthia Roberts "How to Secure Peace in Europe." Harney and
Jones. London 1985.
"Yes, we have taken the unalterable decision to tear Marxism out by its roots."
(Adolf Hitler, addressing the Dusseldorf Industrialist's Club, Jan 27 1932.) (1)
"We shall not only exterpate this plague. We shall tear the word "Marxism" out
of every book. In fifty years time no one in Germany is to know what that word
means."
(Goering, March 19 1933.) (2)
"We have broken the international solidarity of the proletariat; in its place we
must build up the living, national solidarity of the German people."
(Adolf Hitler, 1933.)
"If the National Socialist Party collapses, there will be another 10 million
Communists in Germany."
(Adolf Hitler, to his financial backers, 1932.)
In the beginning of January 1933 a meeting of big industrialists who
collaborated with the Nazis was held at the villa of Kurt von Schroeder, a
banker with links with US financiers. In attendance were big business bosses:
Karl Bosch, IG-Farbenindustrie; Krupp, armaments; Fritz Thyssen, steel; head of
the Rhine-Westphalia Coal Syndicate Emil Kirdorf, coal; Franz von Papen,
diplomatic representative of President Hindenberg; and a former Lance-Corporal
Schicklgruber - leader of the Nazi party - otherwise known as Adolf Hitler.
At the end of January 1933 Hindenberg appointed this Adolf Hitler as Chancellor
of Germany.
In January 1934 Emil Kirdorf wrote:
"I met the Fuhrer for the first time in 1927... recognising that only the policy
of Adolf Hitler could lead to our goal, I put myself completely at the services
of his movement, beginning with that time... As a result of a pamphlet written
by the Fuhrer which I distributed, several meetings took place between the
Fuhrer and leading personalities from industry in which Adolf Hitler formulated
his ideas in a brief and clear cut form."
(Head of the Rhine-Westphalia Coal Syndicate Emil Kirdorf, in the Preussische
Zeitung, Jan 31 1934.)
The coal syndicate allocated to the Nazi Party a levy of five pfennigs for every
ton of coal sold. Even before the Nazis came to power in 1933 this had given the
Nazi Party 6,150,000 Reichsmarks a year from the coal syndicate alone.
Fritz Thyssen wrote in his book "I Paid Hitler" in 1941 that:
"I established the connection between Hitler and the important industrialists...
It is generally known that on 27 January 1932 _ a year before he came to power _
Adolf Hitler made a 2½ hour speech in the Industrialists' Club in Dusseldorf.
This speech made a deep impression on the assembled industrialists, and as a
result, a number of substantial donations began to flow from the sources of the
heavy industries into the funds of the NSDAP [National Socialist German Workers'
Party _ the Nazi Party B.M.]... In the last years before the seizure of power
the large industrial associations provided funds continuously."
(Fritz Thyssen, in his book "I Paid Hitler", 1941.)
(1)See:Denis and Cynthia Roberts "How to Secure Peace in Europe." Harney and
Jones. London 1985.
(2)See:Denis and Cynthia Roberts "How to Secure Peace in Europe." Harney and
Jones. London 1985.
#The banks and the big monopolies of Krupp, IG-Farben, Flick and Thyssen paid
over 60 million Reichsmarks a year to the Nazi Party between 1933 and 1945,
totalling over 700 million Reichsmarks. IG-Farben's share alone of this, without
that of its subsidiaries, was 84 million Reichsmarks.
After the signing of the 1938 Munich Agreement the Chairman of the Board of
IG-Farben wrote to Hitler:
"Being so deeply impressed, my Fuhrer, by your achievement of bringing the
Sudetenland home to the Reich the IG-Farben Industry Joint Stock Company puts at
your disposal for use in the Sudeten German area a sum of half a million
Reichsmarks."
(Chairman of IG-Farben Hermann Schmitz. in a letter to Adolf Hitler, Oct 1938.)
(1)
Support for German and Japanese fascists also came from Henry Deterding's Royal
Dutch Shell, an Anglo-Dutch oil company which previously owned the Russian Baku
oil fields; Alfred Mond of ICI; the French Comite de Forges; US capitalists;
five major British banks; and US and French banks. And arming Germany and Japan
were Alfred Nobel's firm Vickers Armstrong Ltd; Rolls Royce; Alfred Mond's ICI;
Hawker; and the British Aluminium Company. (2)
A reading of an unexpurgated edition of Hitler's Mein Kampf clearly shows
Hitler's priorities and intentions. And Hitler's support came from millionaire
finance and industrial capital - whether Jewish or non-Jewish. And their prime
target was the rising political power of the working class of the world and
wherever it held power.
Before the election of 1933 the combined working class parties had more MPs than
the Nazis. In the 1933 elections the working class vote was successfully split
by the social democrats, who refused co-operation with the communists to form a
working class opposition to the fascists. The futility of the bourgeois minded
social democrats in supporting the Nazis against the Communists showed up fully
when the Nazis had gained a majority in parliament, when the social democrats
also ended up in the concentration camps along with the Communists.
Although the working class Socialist and Communist vote was still solid, they
voted for separate parties. The 81 elected Communists were immediately outlawed
and the Nazis gained an absolute majority with 288 MPs.
In November 1932 the German Communist vote had increased and the Nazis' vote had
fallen. Although the largest single party, having 196 MPs, the Nazis hadn't the
majority they needed. The Nazis, who did not easily get support from the
industrial workers, needed a majority in the Reichstag (German parliament) in
order to pass emergency powers laws to be used against the Communists. The date
for the elections was set for March 5 1933.
"Now it will be easy... we can call on all the resources of the State. Radio and
press are at our disposal. We shall stage a masterpiece of propaganda."
#(Goebbels, in his diary, Jan 1933.)
Hitler and Goering staged a "masterpiece of propaganda" far exceeding the
British Tories' Zinoviev letter.
(1)See:The Nuremberg Trial Documents.
(2)See:Fyodor Volkov "Secrets of Whitehall and Downing Street." Progress. Moscow
1986.
On the night of February 27 1933 the German parliament building, the Reichstag,
burned to the ground. The German press had already been alive with reports of
arson to public buildings. Banner headlines reported that the new Nazi police
chief had found "secret Comintern (Communist International) instructions for an
armed uprising to be signalled by a fire."
On the same night, after the Reichstag fire:
"Now I have them... The Communist deputies [parliamentary deputies B.M.] must be
hanged this very night. Everyone in alliance with the Communists is to be
arrested. We are not going to spare the Social Democrats... either."
(Adolf Hitler, on the night of the Reichstag fire, Feb 27 1933.)
That same night thousands of Communists all over Germany were arrested and
eventually "disappeared". The next day Goebbels wrote in his diary:
"One arrest after another, now we'll pull the Red pest out by their roots and
destroy it once and for all."
(Goebbels, in his diary, Feb 28 )
Many thousands of European and other Communists from 32 countries ended up in
Buchenwald, a camp for "political" prisoners, where 65,000 died, including
German Communist leader Ernst Thaelmann who was an MP in the German Reichstag,
and was eventually murdered there in August 1944.
The day after the Reichstag fire Hitler got President Hindenburg's signature on
the Nazis' emergency decree; which declared a state of emergency, suspended the
constitution, restricted the press and right of assembly, and authorised
interception of postal and telephone communications.
A month before the Reichstag fire Goebbels had written in his diary:
"In our discussion with the Fuhrer we have outlined ways of fighting red terror.
For the time being we are going to dispense with outright countermeasures. Let
the Bolshevik revolutionary flame catch on first. And then we are going to
strike."
(Goebbels, in his diary, Jan 31 1933.)
A mentally retarded Dutchman, Marinus Van der Lubbe, who had been set up by the
Nazis and "found to be carrying a Communist party card" and said by the press to
have "studied in Russia", had been set up and was 'arrested' for the crime and
said to have named as his "accomplices" the Bulgarian Communist leader Georgi
Dimitrov and three other Communists Popov, Tanev and Torgler. Dimitrov conducted
his own defence at his trial in Leipzig and made Goering look a complete fool,
proving that, after having German scientists calculate the volume and size of
the Reichstag building and the rate of spread of the fire, the fire could not
have been started by one person alone and that it must have been started by
several people in several parts of the building.
It was admitted at the Nuremberg trials after the end of the war that setting
fire to the Reichstag was one of Goebbels' masterplans and carried out by
Goering. (1)
(1)See:Viktor Reimann "Joseph Goebbels - The Man Who Created Hitler." Sphere
Books. London 1979.
See also:Boris Polevoi "The Final Reckoning _ Nuremberg Diaries." Progress.
Moscow 1978.
It was also established that before the fire, Hitler and Goering had already
compiled lists of communists who were to be arrested after the burning of the
Reichstag. At the Nuremberg war crimes trial the court also heard evidence from
Gestapo chief Hans Gisevius that ten reliable stormtroopers had started the
fire, and the names of at least three of them were known to the court, and that
the Reichstag had been deliberately left without fire protection that night. (1)
The day before the elections Goebbels wrote in his diary:
"The day of the awakening nation... Everywhere on the mountaintops the fires of
freedom have been lit. All Germany is one big flaming torch."
(Goebbels, in his diary, March 4 1933.)
Thus, with the help of international finance capital, the social democrats, and
Goering's Reichstag fire, the Nazis gained full power over Germany.
The Nazis had consolidated their power in Germany. They were soon to attempt to
assert the power of finance capital over the whole world.
(1)SeeBoris Polevoi "The Final Reckoning - Nuremberg Diaries." Progress. Moscow
1978.
Chapter 14
THE CRUSHING OF THE SPANISH PEOPLES' DEMOCRACY.
to be edited and added to
In other countries the fascist backlash of capital against labour was not
immediately successful.
On the night of July 17-18 1936 Spanish fascist generals under Franco led an
armed coup against the newly democratically elected Spanish Republic. The
British Government did nothing. With British complicity, a fascist government
took control of Spain. The military dictatorship of Franco's fascists continued
to rule Spain for another 40 years.
There was no question of the people of Spain supporting Franco; they fought back
immediately:
"The workers were in the factories when the soldiers came from the Montjuich
barracks into the town centre. People thought it was just another parade. Then
the soldiers opened fire; women out marketing, breakfasters in the cafe, street
vendors showing their wares, gardeners planting flower beds, looked up and saw
people falling dead around them. Troops occupied the Hotel Colon, their machine
guns commanding the central square, the Plaza de Catalunia, and the boulevard of
the Ramblas. Others went down the boulevard, entering churches en route. The
police ranged themselves with the people, fighting side by side with professors,
journalists and intellectuals. The police carried arms, the people ran to gun
shops taking sporting guns and ammunition, automatics, and when nothing better
was left, knives. A tram hastily blinded with sheet metal went at full speed
down the Ramblas through a machine gun barrage from a church. Where soldiers had
gone in, tramloads of men followed, took the kingdom of heaven by storm, and put
the machine guns out of action."
(Sylvia Townsend Warner, in Left Review, Dec 1936.)
But the Republican Government didn't arm the workers for three days. When they
did the workers crushed the fascist revolt in Madrid, Barcelona, and most of the
mainland of Spain. But the generals held Navarre, Western Andalucia, the islands
and Morocco. The fascists could only survive now with help from abroad.
This soon came, from the most reactionary governments. German and Italian
fascists soon came to their aid with planes and military hardware and flew in
troops from Africa and other countries. Political support came from the British
Government. In the capitalist press Franco was described as a Spanish "patriot"
defending Spain against a "red" takeover, even though the programme of the
Spanish Republican People's Front, which had a majority in the February 1936
elections, was not socialist, nor was there a single socialist or communist in
its government. In fact the Republican Government of Spain could best be
described as similar to the British Liberals.
With the fascists, armed and financed and supplied from abroad, carrying out
massacres of workers and peasants, the policy of the British Government was "non
intervention." Non intervention against the generals of Spain, intervention
against the workers of the Soviet Union.
However, help for the Spanish Republicans did come from the working class all
over the world going to fight side by side with the Spanish people. The British
Spanish Medical Aid Committee sent four doctors, eight fully trained nurses,
medicines and equipment for a 30 bed field hospital. In 1937 Sailors refused to
sail the British ship Linaria loaded with nitrate in the US to Spain for Franco.
British workers went on strike in protest at the British Government's support
for Franco. The greatest response was to the British Communist Party's call for
a British Battalion of Volunteers to fight with the Republican Spanish people's
army against the fascists. British workers and even famous personalities went to
fight. Many gave their lives alongside their Spanish comrades.
The British Government's "non-intervention" meant sending British Naval Officers
on official visits to Franco's rebel headquarters, British destroyers detaining
Republican ships on the high seas, and denial of the port of Tangier to
Republican ships. It also meant withholding of oil and coal to Republican Spain
and refusal to sell arms to the Republicans and pressure on France to do the
same under threats to invalidate British guarantees of the French frontiers.
This was British "non-intervention."
In all of Chamberlain's policy on Spain the British Labour leaders followed
obediently. At the Labour Party Conference the leaders imposed silence on anyone
who wanted to oppose Labour's support for the Tories' "non-intervention" policy,
and Spanish Republican delegates were not allowed to speak before the
non-intervention policy was endorsed.
In the autumn of 1936 the Chamberlain Government made it illegal for
anti-fascist volunteers to go to Spain. So volunteers went secretly through
various routes, even when, under British pressure, the French closed the border
across the Pyrenees.
In 1937 the fascists bombed Madrid and other Spanish cities including the total
destruction of Guernica, and massacred civilians and prisoners at Badajos.
British newspapers reported:
"1,200 shot in cold blood."
(The Times Aug 17 1936.)
"2,000 executed by the rebels."
(Manchester Guardian Aug 17 1936.)
"If the men of Madrid will stand weapons in hand, the city is invincible. If
there are not enough rifles, we will use sticks and stones. If there are no
stones, we will use our fists. And if there are no men left, the women will
carry on the battle."
(Spanish woman Communist Dolores "La Passionaria" Ibaruri, October 1936.)
International Brigades were formed and Communists from every country fought as
volunteers for Republican Spain; some going there only after being released from
fascist jails in their own country. The first British volunteers, and the first
British to die for Spain, were Communists - men and women. At first they fought
with other battalions, such as the Thaelmann Batallion and the French Battalion,
but a British Battalion was formed in January 1937 with four companies. Workers
from every country fought for Spain in the International Brigades, including
French, Belgians, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Irish Republicans, Soviets and
British; they fought on in great hardship through 1937 and 1938.
Ernest Hemingway, the writer Ralph Bates, the well known lawyer professor
J.B.S.Haldane, George Orwell,
People from all countries of the world fighting for Spanish democracy could get
no aid whatever from "democratic" Britain.
One thing was apparent to all who went to Spain throughout the Spanish war, the
Spanish people's love and respect for the Soviet Union.
The British International Brigade to Spain was welcomed back in London in
January 1939. 543 did not return. They had given their lives for Spain.
Chapter 15
THE DRIVE TO WAR.
The Second World War began long before 1939. Germany, Italy and Japan signed the
Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936 and 1937. And from 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria and
the USSR, Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia), The Germans and Italians bombed
Spain and the democratically elected Republican government there was overthrown
and Franco's fascists siezed power, and Germany entered the Rhine zone and
siezed Austria.
In all these actions Britain did nothing:
"We must not try to delude ourselves, and, still more, we must not try to delude
small weak nations, that they will be protected by the League against
aggression."
(British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Feb 22 1938.)
Not only did that same British government which launched wars of intervention
against the Soviets have a policy of "non-intervention" when the democratically
elected Spanish Republican Government requested aid against Franco's fascist
army, but they recognised Franco not long after he seized power.
The British refused to intervene in Spain, they sanctioned Italy's invasion of
Abyssinia:
"I should like to make it clear that we have always understood and well
understand Italy's desire for overseas expansion.
...In the present negotiations we showed our willingness to endeavour to ensure
for Italy some territorial satisfaction by reasonable and legitimate
arrangements with Abyssinia... We admit the need for Italian expansion."
(Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare, House of Commons, July 11 1935.)
"England is a lady. A lady's taste is for vigorous action by the male, but she
likes things done discreetly - not in public. So be tactful, and we shall have
no objection."
(Labour leader Ramsey MacDonald, to Mussolini, approving of his plans to invade
Abyssinia (Ethiopia) 1935.) (1)
And the British did nothing when Hitler entered the Rhine Zone:
"Hitler gazed tensely westward on that day, towards Paris and London. He waited
24 hours, then 48. When no intervention resulted, he breathed a sigh of
relief... he had gambled, and he won."
(Hitler's press secretary Otto Dietrich, in his memoirs.) (2)
On March 1 1938, the German army occupied Austria and incorporated it into the
Reich. Again, the British did nothing. The British and French officially
recognised the Anschluss.
Capitalism was in deepening crisis and making frantic preparations for war on
the Soviet Union. The imperialist powers of international finance capital were
already planning joint attacks on the newly built socialist state. Heads of
states, government ministers, members of the aristocracy, international bankers,
#(1)See:G.Ward Price "Extra Special Correspondence." George Harrap and Co.
London 1957. p242
See also:Fyodor Volkov "Secrets of Whitehall and Downing Street." Progress.
Moscow 1986.
#check: Correspondent? & check date and place of quote
(2)Otto Dietrich "12 Jahre mit Hitler." Munchen 1955.
financiers and capitalists were careering about all over the globe conducting
secret talks, agreements, treaties and alliances.
The German-Italian-Japanese new imperialist axis was formed to "save the world
from Communism." This was the pretext under which German finance capital
intended to enslave the world under fascism.
"Why is Tokyo diplomacy so busy at this moment in Warsaw and Berlin?
...Moscow supplies the answer... The relations between Germany, Poland, and
Japan become closer every day. In an emergency they would amount to an
anti-Soviet alliance."
(The Observer, Feb 17 1935.)
"Lord Halifax visited Hitler and Goering. Chamberlain flew into the Fuhrer's
arms three times in succession. He went specially to Rome to embrace Mussolini,
to present him with the official recognition of the conquest of Abyssinia
[Ethiopia B.M.] and practically to tell him that we would not bother him about
his invasion of Spain."
(Lloyd George, Sunday Express, July 23 1939.) (1)
Right up till September 1939, when war was declared by Britain, the "enemy" was
the 'nasty Russian Bolsheviks':
"Unity is essential and the real danger to the world today does not come from
Germany or Italy... but from Russia."
(Sir Arnold Wilson, House of Commons, June 11 1938.) (2)
(1)See:Pat and Zelda Coates "A History of Anglo-Soviet Relations." Lawrence and
Wishart. London 1944.
(2)Michael Sayers and Albert E. Kahn "The Great Conspiracy - Against Soviet
Russia." Boni and Gaer. NY 1946, and Red Star Press. London 1975.
Chapter 16
WHO SUPPORTED HITLER'S PREPARATIONS FOR WAR?
"I agree with the words spoken by Herr Hitler last month when he said that
cooperation between our two peoples in full confidence with one another would be
fortunate for the whole world."
(Chamberlain, in a speech at Blackburn, Feb 22 1939.) (1)
Hitler had stated his intention to conquer the Ukraine and the rest of the USSR,
and Japan was threatening the Soviet Union in the East. British political
support and armaments soon began to flow in large quantities to Japan and
Germany, including, against the Versailles Treaty, aero engines and heavy tanks
for Germany. The British Foreign Secretary said that Hitler's claim to "equality
of rights" in armaments "cannot and ought not to be resisted."
Hitler and German finance capital had many friends and supporters among the
British landed aristocracy, Royal family, bankers, finance and industrial
capital, press lords and Government ministries - all 'patriotic' Tories to a
man.
During secret talks in London, Lord Halifax asked Hitler's agent Fritz Wiedemann
to tell Hitler that:
"It would be the finest moment of my life if the Fuhrer were to drive along the
Mall side by side with the King during a visit of state to London."
(Lord Halifax, in a message to Hitler via Fritz Wiedemann.) (2)
The French bourgeoisie also appeased Hitler, and thus betrayed their own country
and thoroughly qualified themselves for the contempt of the Nazis:
"...notwithstanding all the slaps in the face the French have received in the
past years they are offering their hand to us; the slapped is extending his hand
to the slapper."
(German Ambassador to Paris Count Welczek.) (3)
Hitler had no respect for the British and French appeasers. He referred to
Chamberlain and Daladier as "miserable worms". He knew they would not interfere
with his plans for Austria and Poland while they thought he would not harm their
interests:
"What now will England do if the Austrian question cannot be settled peacefully?
Basically, I am convinced that England of her own accord will do nothing."
(German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, after talks with Chamberlain and Halifax,
March 10 1938.) (4)
The British appeasers did nothing about Austria. In fact; while the Nazi armies
were marching into Vienna, Chamberlain was entertaining Ribbentrop at a dinner
in his honour at 10 Downing Street. During the dinner Chamberlain was handed a
note informing him of Hitler's invasion of Austria. After reading the note
Chamberlain merely remarked to Ribbentrop that:
(1)Denis and Cynthia Roberts "How to Secure Peace in Europe." Harney and Jones.
London 1985.
(2)See:Documents and Materials Relating to the Eve of the Second World War,
Vol.II, Dirksen papers (1938-1939). Foreign Languages Publishing House. Moscow
1948.)
(3)Ibid.
(4)Documents on German Foreign Policy. 1918-1945, Series D, Vol.1. HMSO. London
1949.
"...Once we had all got past this unpleasant affair and a reasonable solution
had been found, it was to be hoped that we could be working in earnest toward a
German-British understanding."
(Chamberlain, to Ribbentrop, after hearing of Hitler's invasion of Austria,
April 1938.) (1)
After Chamberlain had signed the Munich Agreement on September 29 1938 his old
"understanding" dinner companion said:
"That old man today has signed the death warrant of the British Empire and left
it to us to fill in the date."
(Ribbentrop to, Hitler.) (2)
Returning from Munich, Chamberlain proudly declared:
"This means peace in our time...
I bring you peace with honour...
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety...
I have no hesitation in saying, after the personal contact I have established
with Herr Hitler, that I believe what he says..."
(British Prime Minister Chamberlain.) (3)
When Chamberlain announced in the House of Commons his intention to fly to
Munich to conclude an agreement with Hitler, Mussolini and Daladier over the
dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, neither Labour nor ILP members protested. Only
one MP protested _ Communist MP William Gallacher. The Daily Worker commented
that "Chamberlain is the best statesman Germany ever had."
In March 1939 Chamberlain wrote in his diary not that he didn't trust the
Germans, but:
"I must confess to the most profound distrust of Russia... And I distrust her
motives, which seem to me to have little connection with our ideas of liberty,
and to be concerned only with getting everyone else by the ears."
(Chamberlain, in his diary March 26 1939.) (4)
(1)Documents on German Foreign Policy. 1918-1945, Series D, Vol.1. HMSO. London
1949.
(2)See:Hugh Dalton "The Fateful Years. Memoirs 1931-1945." London 1956.
(3)See:Ivor Montagu "The Traitor Class." Lawrence and Wishart. London 1940.
(4)See:Keith Failing "The Life of Neville Chamberlain. London 1946.
Chamberlain was going to be tough with Berlin:
"The time is coming when the bullies of Berlin will be brought to their knees,
and the man who will do it is Mr.Neville Chamberlain."
(Yorkshire Post June 13 1939.)
What were the 'bullies of Berlin' thinking?:
"If the British try to threaten us that does not matter to us, for we know that
there is no force behind their threats. Take, for example, China, where the
Japanese strip them naked, and the British can do nothing. Great Britain remains
stupid, and cannot cope with our might."
(Goebbels, in a speech at Essen, May 31 1939.)
Fascism had many friends in British big business and among the members of the
Anglo-German Fellowship and The Link and among the notorious Clivedon set. Many
were close friends and allies of the German Ambassador von Ribbentrop, who later
became Hitler's foreign Minister and was executed by the Nuremberg military
tribunal as a Nazi war criminal. They included Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain, Governor of the Bank of England Sir Montague Norman - who was
involved in putting separate peace feelers to the the Nazis via President of the
Reichsbank Hjalmar Schacht (who was imprisoned at the end of the war in
Nuremberg for war crimes), Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare, British Ambassador
in Germany Sir Nevile Henderson, Lord and Lady Astor (Marquis of Londonderry,
owner of the Observer, Secretary for Air 1931-35, owners of the Clivedon estate
- where the Munich deal was planned), J.J.Astor, Chairman of The Times, Winston
Churchill, the Duke of Hamilton, Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, Chancellor of
the Exchequer Sir John Simon, the Windsors and other members of the Royal
family. It was the Duke of Hamilton's estate on which Hitler's deputy Rudolf
Hess landed during the war in 1941 in order to try and conclude an alliance
between Britain and Germany against the USSR. (1)
The British Tories' tendency towards fascism, especially during times of crisis,
is exemplified by a statement by Tory M.P. Lt. Col. Sir Thomas Moore regarding
his views on the British Union of Fascists:
add Br Nazi societies - business connections - League - (League of St. George?)
"Surely there cannot be any fundamental difference of outlook between the
Blackshirts and their parents, the Conservatives? For let us make no mistake
about that parentage... It [the BUF B.M.] is largely derived from the
Conservative Party... Surely the relationship can be made closer and more
friendly...
...the briefest study of the movement [BUF B.M.] and the most casual examination
of its members satisfy one that it is largely derived from the Conservative
Party. This is perhaps natural for the instincts are the same, loyalty to the
throne and love of country."
(British Tory M.P. Lt. Col. Sir Thomas Moore, Daily Mail April 25 1934.)
"In 1938, Nazi diplomat Fritz Wiedemann appointed the American millionaire
industrial systems inventor, Charles Bedaux, as head of IG commercial operations
on behalf of The Fraternity in Europe. Bedaux had supplied industrial systems of
time and motion study to IG, ITT, Standard Oil, General Motors, Ford, Sterling
Products, and other Fraternity members. He had introduced brutal methods of
production that brought about frequent strikes in the 1930s..."
(Charles Higham, in "Trading With the Enemy.") (2)
Bedaux involved the Windsors, who were sympathetic to Hitler's New Order in
Europe, into the Fraternity's plans and arranged for them to meet Hitler and
tour Nazi Germany:
"In the summer of 1937, according to MI-6 files in the Ministry of Defence,
London, Bedaux met with the Duke of Windsor, Bedaux's close friend Errol Flynn
[American actor B.M.], Rudolf Hess, and Martin Bormann in a secret encounter at
the Hotel Meurice in Paris. At the meeting the Duke promised to help Hess
contact the Duke of Hamilton, who had a direct link with Himmler and Kurt von
Schroeder to the Schroeder Bank and the Worms Bank through their common
membership in Frank Buckman's Moral Rearmament Movement. Hess was determined to
insure an alliance with Great Britain...; efforts were made by Hess to meet with
Hamilton on several further occasions, which finally led to Hess's dramatic
landing on the Hamilton estate in 1941."
(Charles Higham, in "Trading With the Enemy.") (3)
(1)See:Ivor Montagu "The Traitor Class." Lawrence and Wishart. London 1940.
Also:Pat and Zelda Coates "A History of Anglo-Soviet Relations." Lawrence and
Wishart. London 1944.
See also:Henderson's "Memorandum on British Policy Towards Germany", kept secret
until 1968.
(2)Charles Higham "Trading With the Enemy." Robert Hale. London 1983.
(3)Charles Higham "Trading With the Enemy." Robert Hale. London 1983.
The Windsors were sent out of harm's way to a British outpost in the Bahamas in
1940. There they met with US Mafia bosses such as Meyer Lansky and top Nazis.
One was Goering's friend the Nazi banker and founder of the Electrolux company
Wenner Gren, who was investing massive South American finance in Hitler's
armaments. (1)
"...it was reported that the Duke of Windsor entered into an agreement which in
substance was to the effect that if Germany was victorious in the war, Hermann
Goering through his control of the army would overthrow Hitler and would
thereafter install the Duke of Windsor as the King of England."
(J.Edgar Hoover, head of American FBI, in a memo to Roosevelt's secretary, May 3
1941.) (2)
Who else financed Hitler as a "bulwark against the USSR"?
British and American monopolies financed German, Italian and Japanese rearmament
and war preparations, without which they could not have rearmed so quickly and
on such a massive scale after the First World War. (3)
As war reparations, Germany was to pay thirty thousand million dollars over 58
years. But just after World War One the US loaned Germany ten thousand million
dollars. It was the same pattern after the Second World War, when war
reparations and debts were waived and billions of dollars of capital were pumped
into Germany as Marshall Aid.
After the First World War German heavy industry could not have been built up and
restored alone, not without British and American finance. Germany's World War
One reparations were eventually not only quietly abandoned but more capital was
poured into Germany in US and British loans as part of the Dawes Plan than was
ever received in war reparations. Even at the end of the First World War Britain
never intended Germany to be weak, especially since by then a much more fearsome
enemy of capital had appeared on the European scene. This was evident in the
treatment of Germany at the end of the First World War. In 1918 there was no
allied victory parade through Berlin, there was no unconditional surrender
demanded by the allies, instead an armistice was agreed with Germany.
Thus Germany was built up as the "bulwark against Communism" to the point that
she was able to launch another world war after only twenty years from losing the
first one.
"With regard to Germany, something had been bound to happen. The people there
had lost everything in the war. While Germany was wonderfully equipped,
scientifically and industrially, she had no working capital, and the prospects
of the young people since the war had been almost nil. Either they were to have
Communism or something else. Hitler had produced Hitlerism as they saw it today,
and of the two he thought it was preferable.
Will the Germans go to war again? I don't think that there is any doubt about
it; and the curious thing is that I am almost persuaded that some day we shall
have to let the Germans arm or we shall have to arm them... One of the present
menaces to peace in Europe today is the totally unarmed condition of Germany."
(Sir Arthur Balfour (Lord Riverdale), Advisor to the Treasury, Chairman and
Managing Director of Arthur Balfour Co. Ltd; Capital Steel Works, Sheffield;
Chairman of High Speed Alloys; in a speech reported in the Sheffield Daily
Telegraph, Oct 24 1933.) (4)
(1)See:Sunday Mirror May 31 1987.
See also:John Parker "King of Fools." Macdonald / Futura. London 1987.
(2)Charles Higham "Trading With the Enemy." Robert Hale. London 1983.
#(3)See:A.C.Sutton "Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler."
(4)See:Koni Zilliacus "Can the Tories Win the Peace? And How They Lost the Last
One." Victor Gollancz. London 1945.
"From the very moment Hitler came to power, and destroyed the labour movement in
Germany, the National Government [of Britain B.M.] has been the main power which
has helped Hitler by every political and financial means."
(British Communist leader Harry Pollitt, 1938.)
"From 1924 to 1929 a passion amounting almost to mania developed in the City of
London for lending money to Germany."
(Lord Boothby, 1934.) (1)
"Recently reports have come to me that American banks are contemplating large
new credits and loans to Italy and Germany whose war machines are already large
enough to threaten the peace of the world. I have even heard, but it seems
unbelievable to me, that Mr. Bullitt is lending encouragement to these schemes."
(US Ambassador to Germany William Dodd, Jan 27 1937.) (2)
"There can be no doubt that practically the whole of the free exchange available
to Germany for the purchase of raw materials was supplied directly and
indirectly by Great Britain."
#"If the day of reckoning ever comes, the liberal attitude of the British
Government in this matter may well be responsible for the lives of many British
soldiers and civilians. War materiel which will eventually be used against this
country could never have been produced but for the generosity with which Great
Britain is giving her enemy free exchange for the purchase of raw materials."
(British economist Paul Einzig, in "World Finance 1938-1939.") (3)
"Who finances Germany? Without this country as a clearing house for payments and
the ability to draw on credits... Germany could have not have pursued her
plans... Time and again Germany has defaulted on her obligations, public and
private; but she has gone on buying wool, cotton, nickel, rubber and petrol
until her requirements were fulfilled, and the financing has been done directly
or indirectly through London..."
(Stock Exchange Gazette, May 3 1935.)
"We regret to admit that from a small but rather influential circle in the City
of London, there flows a constant stream of propaganda in favour of credits for
Germany. These propagandists say that a loan to Germany would be a twofold
investment. We could buy off German aggression, and by propping up an admittedly
desperate and faithless tyranny we could prevent Germany from falling into
Communism."
(From the City journal "The Banker", Feb 1937.)
The British capitalist press also firmly supported and cooperated with German
fascism while suppressing any voice which warned of the coming danger or was
hostile to Hitler:
"The British press has... made further progress on the road that leads to
totalitarian servitude... Hitler... fortified by the Munich agreement and by the
scrap of paper which he and the British Prime Minister had signed... placed his
veto on the return to office of three prominent British public men [Eden,
Churchill and Duff Cooper]. When this news was broadcast on the evening of
Sunday, October 9, the whole nation was moved to wrath. Of the depth of this
wrath hardly a hint was given next morning in the leading British newspapers,
some of which were almost apologetic. Inquiry into this humiliating behaviour on
the part of our 'free press' elicited the information that certain large
advertising agents had warned journals for which they provided much revenue that
advertisements would be withheld from them should they play up the international
crisis and cause an alarm that was bad for trade."
#(Times editor Wickham Steed, in his book "The Press.")
(1)Parliamentary Debates. Official Record, Fifth Series, Vol.285, 1934, col.384.
(2)See:Michael Sayers and Albert E. Kahn "The Great Conspiracy - Against Soviet
Russia." Boni and Gaer, NY 1946, and Red Star Press. London 1975.
(3)Paul Einzig "World Finance 1938-1939." Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.
London 1939.
Also in British journals: "Financial News", and "Labour Monthly" Oct 1939.
See also:Ivor Montagu "The Traitor Class." Lawrence and Wishart. London 1940.
The "No War" Daily Express headlines were planned by Foreign Secretary Sir
Samuel Hoare (Lord Templewood); who also, in secret meetings with the press
owners and editors, revealed the British Cabinet's non hostility to the German
demand that no news unfavourable to the Nazis was printed in the British press.
The British press, being "free", kindly obliged. Daily Herald editor Francis
Williams resigned when his articles were sensored by the paper's commercial
board of editors. (1)
On May 6 1938 German Ambassador Von Dirksen thanked the editor of the Daily Mail
for awaiting German approval before publishing Lord Rothermere's article
extolling the Nazi viewpoint saying that "Czechoslovakia is not of the remotest
concern to us." (2)
Press lords and editors were to the fore of the Clivedon set of pro-Nazi
supporters including J.J.Astor, chairman of The Times, and Lord Astor, owner of
the Observer, and their editors Dawson and Garvin.
The British Government persuaded the press owners that:
#"...out-spoken criticism of Hitler's policy or of the Nazi atrocities against
the Jews would be against the national interest. Many of these approaches were,
unfortunately successful... such words just at this moment would do the gravest
harm to negotiations then proceeding, as a result of which things would shortly
take a turn for the better."
(Francis Williams, former editor of the Daily Herald.) (3)
A secret Government Ministry of Information was set up. Newsreel films showing
Nazi aggression were sensored.
"We did not want to show a film which was going to enhance hatred towards
Germany. We made the decision on a report that was read to us. I have not seen
the film... it could not be arranged in time."
(Alderman E.J.Thompson JP, Chairman of the Watch Committee responsible for
censoring films, Sussex Daily News, Nov 1939.) (4)
"Half way through making "The Great Dictator" I began receiving alarming
messages from United Artists. They had been advised by the Hays Office that I
would run into censorship trouble. Also the English office was very concerned
about an anti-Hitler picture and doubted whether it could be shown in Britain."
(Charlie Chaplin "My Autobiography.")
#(1)See:Francis Williams "Press, Parliament and People."
Also:Stanley Harrison "Poor Men's Guardians." Lawrence and Wishart. London 1974.
(2)See:Documents and Materials Relating to the Eve of the Second World War,
Vol.II, Dirksen papers (1938-1939). Foreign Languages Publishing House. Moscow
1948.)
(3)See:Stanley Harrison "Poor Men's Guardians." Lawrence and Wishart. London
1974.
(4)See:Ernie Trory "Imperialist War." Crabtree Press. Brighton 1977.
The Official Secrets Act was judiciously used to suppress any newspaper hostile
to the Government's policy. Newspapers like the Daily Worker (now Morning Star)
were suppressed and closed down. The Daily Worker was banned twice, once for 14
months after Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union.
Chapter 17
HITLER: THE CAPITALISTS "BULWARK AGAINST COMMUNISM."
Although intervention had failed to stop the Russian revolution, the
capitalist's had not given up their plans, especially as the influence of the
revolution was spreading abroad, including Germany:
"The whole of Europe is filled with the spirit of revolution. There is a deep
sense not only of discontent but of anger and revolt among the workers against
pre-war conditions. The whole existing order in its political, social and
economic aspects is questioned by the masses of the population from one end of
Europe to the other."
(Lloyd George, in a secret memo: "Some considerations for the Peace Conference
before they finally draft their terms", March 1919.)
By late 1923, frightened by the revolutionary tide rising in Europe, British and
American capitalists began to build up German imperialism again in order to
suppress the rising power of the working class in Europe and to attempt again to
destroy it in the only country where it had actually taken power.
"Bolshevism is spreading... It has invaded the Baltic provinces and Poland... we
have received very bad news regarding its spread to Budapest and Vienna. Italy,
also, is in danger... Therefore, something must be done against Bolshevism."
(French Premier Clemenceau, at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.)
"The whole of American policy during the liquidation of the armistice was to
contribute everything it could to prevent Europe from going Bolshevik."
(Herbert Hoover, in charge of American relief in Europe, Aug 17 1921.) (1)
Many Central and Eastern European countries had fascist or near fascist
governments. But their economies were collapsing and the British and US
Governments were desperate to keep them in power:
"Food was practically the only basis on which the Governments of the newly
created States could be maintained in power. Half of Europe had hovered on the
brink of Bolshevism. If it had not been for the £137 million in relief credits
granted to Central and Eastern Europe between 1919 and 1921... Austria and
probably several other countries would have gone the way of Russia... Two and a
half years after the Armistice the back of Bolshevism had been broken largely by
relief credits... The expenditure of £137 million was probably one of the best
international investments from a financial and political point of view ever
recorded in history."
(Sir William Goode, British Director of Relief in Central Europe, 1921, in his
official report.)
An economic blockade failed to break "the back of Bolshevism". Another way had
to be found. Fascist organisations were already growing stronger in Germany and
other European countries:
"I consider the danger from the left far exceeds the danger from the right, and
in the event of a new outbreak of communism in Germany, these organisations
[Nazi B.M.] would powerfully serve the cause of order."
(British Ambassador in Berlin Lord D'Abernon, in his diary, Nov 1920.)
(1)See:Albert E. Kahn "High Treason - The Plot Against the People." The Hour
Publishers. NY 1950.
Just as billions of dollars of Marshall "aid" was poured into Western Europe and
Japan to prevent these countries taking the socialist road after the Second
World War; from 1924 to 1929 the US Dawes Plan was put into operation. This
enabled US and British capital to flow into German industry. Credits amounted to
some 21,000,000,000 Marks, and reached 27,000,000,000 Marks by the mid 1930s.
Germany continued to build up its military strength.
Apart from its role as capital's "bulwark against socialism"; as far as Germany
was concerned for its own purposes, the Second World War began where the First
World War left off; it was a matter of unfinished business. As a result of the
Treaty of Versailles Germany had lost its former colonies, many to Britain.
Germany was an imperial power without an empire or an army.
On October 14 1933 Germany withdrew from the Geneva disarmament conference. On
October 19 1933 Germany walked out of the League of Nations (forerunner of the
UN). On March 13 1935 Germany repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, which forbade
Germany to re-arm. On March 16 1935 Germany introduced universal military
conscription; and an Anglo-German agreement was signed enabling Germany to
increase its Navy more than five times. And British Labour Prime Minister Ramsey
MacDonald tabled a draft at the 1933 Geneva Disarmament Conference to double
Germany's land based forces from the Treaty of Versailles limit of 100,000 to
200,000.
"The English Conservatives have a great fear of Bolshevism, and this fear could
easily be exploited politically... Conservative circles, it is true, are
concerned at Germany's strength, but their greatest fear is Bolshevism."
(Goering, in a conversation with Mussolini, Jan 23 1937.) (1)
"If the Powers succeeded in overthrowing Nazism in Germany, what would follow?
Not a Conservative, Socialist or Liberal regime, but extreme Communism. Surely
that could not be their objective? A Communist Germany would be infinitely more
formidable than a Communist Russia."
#(Lloyd George, in a speech at Barmouth, quoted in The Times Sept 23 {#Aug 9=HP
LA} 1933.) (2)
"I was at a loss to understand why we could not make common ground in some form
or other in opposition to Communism."
#(Lord Londonderry, "Ourselves and Germany.")
And:
"I feel that if the Nazi regime in Germany is destroyed then the country will go
Communist."
##(Lord {Charles Astor?} Marquess of Londonderry, in a letter to Winston
Churchill, in his book "Wings of Destiny.") (3)
"If we were to isolate Germany and therefore prove to the German people that
Herr Hitler had failed them... eventually they will discard him and seek another
God... There is only one, the anti-Christ of Communism."
(Sir Thomas Moore MP, Sunday Dispatch, Oct 22 1933.)
(1)See:"Ciano's Diplomatic Papers." London 1948.
Quoted in:"On the Eve of World War II 1933-1939." Novosti. Moscow 1974.
(2)See:Koni Zilliacus "Can the Tories Win the Peace? And How They Lost the Last
One." Victor Gollancz. London 1945.
See also:Harry Pollitt "Looking Ahead." The Communist Party of Great Britain.
London 1947.
(3)See:Pat and Zelda Coates "A History of Anglo-Soviet Relations." Lawrence and
Wishart. London 1944.
"In a very short time, perhaps in a year, perhaps in two, the Conservative
elements in this country will be looking to Germany as the bulwark against
Communism in Europe. She is planted right in the centre of Europe, and if her
defence breaks down against the Communists - only two or three years ago a very
distinguished German statesman said to me: " am not afraid of Nazism, but of
Communism" - and if Germany is seized by the Communists, Europe will follow;
because the Germans would make the best job of it that any country could. Do not
let us be in a hurry to condemn Germany. We should be welcoming Germany as a
friend."
(Lloyd George, House of Commons, Nov 28 1934.) (1)
"...the acute danger from Bolshevism that threatens Europe. That alliances
should have been made between France and Russia and Czechoslovakia and Russia is
lamentable... The extension of Bolshevism throughout Europe remains the fixed
determination of Russia. It is extraordinary that so many people in this country
do not appear to be alive to the dire peril that exists.
As Admiral Sir Barry Domville says, Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini are the
direct outcome of Bolshevism, and there can be no doubt that had it not been for
them, Bolshevism would be devastating the greater part of Europe today."
(Sir Robert Gower, The Times July 31 1936.)
"The great services the Fuhrer had rendered in the rebuilding of Germany were
fully and completely recognised, and if British public opinion was sometimes
taking a critical attitude toward certain German problems, the reason might be
in part that people in England were not fully informed... In spite of these
difficulties he [Lord Halifax B.M.] and other members of the British Government
were fully aware that the Fuhrer had not only achieved a great deal inside
Germany herself, but that, by destroying Communism in his country, he had barred
its road to Western Europe, and that Germany therefore could rightly be regarded
as a bulwark of the West against Bolshevism...
All other questions could be characterised as relating to changes in the
European order, changes that would probably take place sooner or later. Among
these questions were Danzig [now Gdansk, Poland, declared a "free city" under
League of Nations rule by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. B.M.], Austria and
Czechoslovakia. England was only interested that any change should be brought
about by peaceful evolution."
(From: Record of Conversation Between the Fuhrer and Reichskanzler and Lord
Halifax in the Presence of the Reichsminister of Foreign Affairs, in
Obersalzberg, Nov 19 1937. From the Archives of the German Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, enclosed in a letter to von Neurath of Jan 28 1938. (The German
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Reichstag were captured by the Red Army in
1945, and unlike Britain, the USSR has published the documents contained in
them.)) (2)
"I ask those who hate Hitler... what has Hitler done of which we can reasonably
complain?... Let us try to forget his misdeeds of the past, and the methods
which, no doubt, we all of us deplore, but which I suggest have been very
largely forced upon him."
(British Tory MP C.T.Culverwell, Oct 6 1938.) (3)
(1)See:Koni Zilliacus "Can the Tories Win the Peace? And How They Lost the Last
One." Victor Gollancz. London 1945.
(2)"Documents and Materials Relating to the Eve of the Second World War, Vol.1:
November 1937-1938." Foreign Languages Publishing House. Moscow 1948.
(3)See:Gracchus "Your M.P." Victor Gollancz. London 1944.
"The [Conservative B.M.] leaders... became extremely alarmed at the prospect of
the spread of the ideology of communism... to Great Britain itself. They were,
therefore, prepared to do almost anything to build up protection for British
capitalism and imperialism against the spread of this, to them, dangerous
disease, which had already gained a considerable hold amongst the British
working class... To fight this ideology must mean hostility to Russia...
...throughout this period the major factor in European politics was the
successive utilisation by Great Britain... of various fascist governments to
check the power and danger and the rise of communism or socialism."
(Sir Stafford Cripps, Feb 1940.) (1)
"During this period the fear of Communism... was the great British bogey.
Germany, under Hitler, with its early programme of vigorous opposition to
Communism, was looked on as a bulwark against the spread of the doctrine
throughout Europe."
(John F. Kennedy "Why England Slept.")
"Northcliffe had discovered the secret of success. Produce reading matter for
the mass public and then sell it in the same way as any other article of
commerce. The paper's new importance lay in its ability to put advertisers in
touch with the mass of consumers Now what was important became the power given
by a large circulation to sway the mass, to "telegraph a message to millions
with damnable reiteration", as Northcliffe himself put it. In this new
conception of journalism power was seen as deriving from mass suggestion, from
the slogan repeated over and over again until it produced an instinctive
reaction, from the translation of a highly complicated situation into an
emotional challenge capable of being expresses in short phrases that could be
beaten home day after day after day by every technique of propaganda."
(Former British Information Minister Francis Williams "Press, Parliament and
People.")
"The whole country will think with us when we say the word."
(Lord Northcliffe, launching his first mass newspaper the Daily Mail, 1896.)
"I urge all British young men and women to study closely the progress of the
Nazi regime in Germany. They must not be misled by the misrepresentations of its
opponents. The most spiteful detractors of the Nazis are to be found in
precisely the same sections of the British public and press as are most vehement
in their praises of the Soviet regime in Russia. They have started a clamourous
campaign of denunciation of what they call 'Nazi atrocities' which... consist
merely of a few isolated acts of violence such as are inevitable."
(Lord Rothermere, in his Daily Mail, July 10 1933.)
After a meeting in the Albert Hall against the Nazis at which the speaker was
Albert Einstein, Rothermers's Evening News stated:
"This lecture is a piece of alien agitation on British soil; its promoters ask
nothing better than that it shall make bad blood between this country and
Germany... Intelligent and patriotic people will stay carefully away... because
'fair play' as they see it, means allowing the Germans to run their own country
in their own way."
(Rothermere's Evening News, 1934, quoted in Maurice Edelman "The Mirror.")
"GIVE THE BLACKSHIRTS A HELPING HAND.
Timid alarmists all this week have been wimpering that the rapid growth in
numbers of the British Blackshirts is preparing the way for a system of
rulership by means of steel whips and concentration camps... evolved entirely
from their own morbid imaginations... Blackshirts will respect those principles
of tolerance which are traditional in British politics. They have no prejudice
of either class or race."
(Lord Rothermere, in the Mirror, January 22 1934.)
One of Rothermere's articles advised: "Young men may join the British Union of
Fascists by writing to the Headquarters, Kings Road, Chelsea, London SW."
(1)See:Eric Estorick "Stafford Cripps: Master Statesman." New York 1949.
Chapter 18
WHO PUSHED HITLER EAST?
Hitler was worried what would be the reaction of Britain and France to his
invasion of Czechoslovakia:
"I will decide to take action against Czechoslovakia only if I am firmly
convinced, as in the case of the demilitarised zone and the entry into Austria,
that France will not march, and that therefore England will not intervene."
(Hitler, in a directive to Marshal von Keitel, June 18 1938.) (1)
Hitler needn't have worried for one minute. Not only did Britain and France not
intervene, thay signed all he wanted over to him in the Munich deal.
Despite mutual assistance treaties which existed between Britain, France,
Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, and despite the existance of the League of
Nations which was set up to resist aggression, and without Czechoslovakia having
any say in the matter, two "democratic" governments signed away a small nation
to two fascist governments.
In September 1938 the fascist governments of Germany and Italy and the
reactionary governments of the older imperialist powers of Britain and France
signed the Munich Pact, which ceded Czech Sudetenland and Alsace Lorraine to
Hitler and left the USSR isolated. Without the Munich deal and the isolating of
the Soviet Union, Hitler would not have been able to make his preliminary
advances into the rest of Europe, as the Nuremberg proceedings show:
Colonel Ecer (Czechoslovakia):
"Would the Reich have attacked Czechoslovakia in 1938 if the Western Powers had
stood by Prague?"
Marshal Keitel:
"Certainly not. We were not strong enough militarily. The object of Munich was
to get Russia out of Europe, to gain time, and to complete the German
armaments."
(From the Nuremberg Trials documents.)
But as was outlined in Hitler's plan - Directive 32, before turning to the vast
wealth of the USSR, Hitler also needed the industries of Western Europe in order
to sustain an invasion into the USSR and from there, the Middle, Near and Far
East, S.E.Asia, then Britain and America:
"Soviet Russia is a tough nut to crack. I will hardly be able to deal with it
first."
(Hitler, to President of the Danzig (Gdansk) Senate, Rauschning, in 1933.) (2)
Old and new imperialists were now in two armed camps - both wanting the
destruction of working class power and socialism, and both wanting the vast
material and human wealth of the USSR in the end.
"There can be no doubt that the great majority... of Western Europe and of
America would have liked to see Bolshevism crushed, but no one was prepared to
undertake the task."
(Lloyd George, in "The Truth About the Peace Treaties." 1938.)
But as we have seen, it wasn't long before the monopolies found the right
person. The tearing up of the Treaty of Versailles, the trickery of the Munich
agreement and the new anti-Soviet alliance, and Britain's appeasement and
re-arming
(1)See the Nuremberg Trials documents.
(2)See:"The Struggle Against Fascism and War - Past and Present." Panorama GDR.
of Nazi Germany show that Hitler was to "undertake the task", and later to be
the distraction for the blame.
He had already written in his "Mein Kampf" in 1925:
"...the destruction of the USSR and the extermination of its people."
add other Qs, go through Mein Kampf, and prev pages here.
And:
"We are over populated and cannot feed ourselves from our own land... The final
solution of the vital question lies in expanding our living space...
If I had the Ural Mountains with their incalculable treasures of raw materials,
Siberia with its vast forests, and the Ukraine with its tremendous wheat fields,
Germany and the National Socialist leadership would swim in plenty."
(Adolf Hitler, addressing massed troops at the Nuremberg Nazi Party Congress,
Sept 12 1936, in Volkischer Beobachter Sept 13 1936.) (1)
Hitler had also written in Mein Kampf in 1925 that conquest of the world could:
"...by and large only happen at the expense of Russia, and that the new Reich
would have to tread the path taken by the Teutonic Knights of old in order to
win the field for the German plough with the German sword."
(Adolf Hitler "Mein Kampf.") (2)
"The Germans consider Russia a future colony... Russia is entering a new stage
in her history: it is becoming a colonial country."
(Nazi journalist Heft, in "Zeitschrift fur Geopolitik." 1936.)
"How should political power... be used?
It may be used to obtain new export possibilities or it may be used, which is
much better, to conquer new living space in the East and ruthlessly Germanise
it."
(Adolf Hitler, addressing his Generals, Feb 3 1933.) (3)
Like their modern revanchist counterparts today; by 1933, as part of pre-war
psychological preparations, the Nazis were already printing maps of the Baltic
states showing Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as part of the "Third Reich".
#QCapitalist historians try to deny that Britain wanted Hitler to invade the
Soviet Union. If that was so; then why is it that as soon as Hitler signed the
non-aggression pact with the USSR they all denounced Hitler a traitor to their
cause?: Chamberlain said that Hitler had promised that: "he was the mortal enemy
of Bolshevism; he is now its ally." And that Hitler had "betrayed... the whole
Western civilisation" by signing the non-aggression pact with the USSR.(4)
#QLord Halifax said in the House of Commons on October 4 1939 that Germany
reversed: "The most fundamental principles of their policy, which they had for
long years most vehemently proclaimed." (5)
(1)See:Michael Sayers and Albert E. Kahn "The Great Conspiracy - Against Soviet
Russia." Boni and Gaer. NY 1946, and Red Star Press. London 1975.
See also:D.F.Fleming "The Cold War and its Origins." Doubleday. 1961.
(2)Or see:"35 Years After World War Two." International Institute of Politics
and Economics of the GDR, April 1968.
(3)See:"35 years After World War Two." International Institute of Politics and
Economics of the GDR.
See also: New Times. Moscow. Nº 28, 1979. (Available in London.)
"#Q(4)The British War Blue Book. Documents Concerning German-Polish Relations,
London, 1939. p195
"Q#(5)See:The Times Oct 5 1939.
And in case there is still any doubt about international finance capital's
intentions against the organised power of the working classes; against
socialism; and against the USSR:
"The sturdy young Nazis of Germany are Europe's guardians against the Communist
danger... Germany must have elbow room... The diversion of Germany's reserves of
energies and organising ability into Bolshevik Russia would help to restore the
Russian people to a civilised existence, and perhaps turn the tide of world
trade once more towards prosperity. By the same process Germany's need for
expansion would be satisfied, and that growing menace which at present darkens
the horizon would be removed forever."
(Lord Rothermere, in his Daily Mail, Nov 28 1933.) (1)
"We give Japan freedom of action with regard to Russia... We open to Germany the
way to the east by giving it a possibility of expansion."
(Lord Lloyd, 1934.) (2)
"If Germany once again becomes a colonial power, not only will her interests
clash with ours in that field, but she will inevitably be drawn into rivalry
with us as a Naval Power. Surely, then it is the first elementary duty of
British statesmanship to see to it that the great energies, ambitions and
enthusiasms of the new Germany are directed into channels where they will not
clash with the essential interests of Great Britain."
(Churchill's son in law Duncan Sandys, member of the staff of the Foreign
Office, May 2 1935.) (3)
"I am convinced that neither Germany nor the other fascist powers want to go to
war with the western democracies so long as these democracies do not hamper the
drive of fascism towards the East."
(Ex US President Herbert Hoover, in the New York Herald Tribune, Oct 27 1938.)
(4)
"Geographically Germany must occupy the predominating position in relation to
the States of central and south-eastern Europe. I do not see why we should
expect a fundamental change to take place in these regions. Far from this
country being concerned, we have no wish to crowd Germany out of these countries
or to encircle her economically. "
(Chamberlain, House of Commons, Nov 1 1938.) (5)
"I would like to try... to discover in what direction the pressure of German
dynamism can be exercised, to examine if we can still consider this dynamism as
directed exclusively towards the East and to draw some practical conclusions for
our conduct."
(French Ambassador to Berlin Coulondre, to Bonnet, March 19 1939.) (6)
(1)See:D.F.Fleming "The Cold War and Its Origins." Doubleday. London 1961.
(2)See:Andrew Rothstein "The Munich Conspiracy." Lawrence and Wishart. London
1955.
(3)See:Koni Zilliacus "Can the Tories Win the Peace? And How They Lost the Last
One." Victor Gollancz. London 1945.
(4)See:"The Struggle Against Fascism and War - Past and Present." Panorama DDR
1975.
(5)Koni Zilliacus "Can the Tories Win the Peace? And How They Lost the Last
One." Victor Gollancz. London 1945.
(6)See:Ivor Montagu "The Traitor Class." Lawrence and Wishart. London 1940.
"His Majesty's Government are not only willing but anxious to explore the whole
problem of Lebensraum, not only for Germany but for everybody, for all European
nations."
(Lord Halifax, 1939.) (1)
Even at the late hour of August 26 1939, one week before war 'broke out', the
British Government hoped for a deal with Hitler:
"The basic idea was that if Britain would leave Herr Hitler alone in his sphere
(Eastern Europe), he would leave us alone."
(British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, Aug 26 1939.) (2)
"By 1938 I had come to the conclusion that if a war occurred between Germany on
the one side and England and France on the other, it would result in either a
German victory or in a prostrate and devastated Europe. I, therefore, advocated
that England and France... permit Germany to expand Eastward into Russia without
declaring war."
(Lindburgh, to the America First Committee, Oct 30 1941.) (3)
Through their attitudes and actions towards Hitler and their non-intervention,
the British Tories had made it quite clear to Hitler not only that they would
not stand in the way of his claims to Eastern European countries such as
Austria, Czechoslovakia and Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), but they positively
encouraged his invasion of the USSR.
(1)See:Viscount Halifax "Speeches on Foreign Policy." Oxford University Press.
London 1940.
(2)Public Records Office, cab 23/100, p277.
Quoted in:"On the Eve of World War II 1933-1939." Novosti. Moscow 1974.
(3)Denis and Cynthia Roberts "Europe - First Continent of Lasting Peace." Harney
and Jones. London 1983.
School and college history, economics and business studies teaching and books do
not contain any of this information.
All the material and information I have presented here is readily available to
historians, writers, journalists, teachers, educators and syllabus publishers.
Although I have spent many hundreds of hours gathering it all together, I did
not have to look very far to find any of it.
When as a trainee history lecturer, it was suggested I take the class on a trip
to the Tower of London and then set them an essay on what life was like for a
soldier in King Charles' Army centuries ago. Very useful knowledge that! A
sociology of the past perhaps? But certainly not history in its most important
sense; unless history is to mean anything old or 'interesting' that you can do
in evening classes, like antiques, flower arranging or basket weaving. When
instead I taught real history, learning from the past in order to change the
future, the collective life-experience of humanity, I was got rid of. The head
of the history department complained that the students had remarked that I made
them think; which the head of history had probably never done in a lifetime of
teaching. I ended up washing and cleaning and emptying human surgical waste in a
hospital.
Unless teachers learn to be brave and intellectually honest (difficult when they
have a mortgage and bills to pay), future historical, social and economic
education and popular 'knowledge' will also not refer to the US or British
history and continuing complicity in global plunder, exploitation, domination
and control, wars of aggrandisement and acquisition, causing the deaths and
devastation of the homes and lands of millions of people - the thousands of
children under the age of two who will die tonight through simple lack of food,
clean water, medicine and education - the untold millions of unnecessary deaths
among the overwhelming majority of humanity on this incredibly rich and abundant
and ultimately sustainable earth.
From Brian Mitchell. Evolution.
Responses and criticisms welcomed. Reply to my personal e-mail if you prefer. My
replies to criticisms will be posted.
.
"How long will they steal our profits while we stand around and look?" (Bob
Marley, Redemption song.)
"The most remarkable thing about the world is that you can understand it."
(Einstein.)
"If you can't answer a man's arguments, all is not lost; you can still call him
vile names." (US writer Elbert Hubbard.)
"The philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world. The thing is,
however, to change it." (Karl Marx.)
"And if we were all capable of unity to make our blows stronger and infallible
and so increase the effectiveness of all kinds of support given to the
struggling people - how great and close would the future be." (Che Guevara.)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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